Doug Richard
School for Startups founder Doug Richard on yachts, flipping burgers and embarrassing ringtones.
Name: Doug Richard
Age: 52
Company: School for Startups
First job: I was a short-order cook in a diner where I grew up in Buffalo, New York – in other words I was flipping burgers and cooking fries.
Dream job: It would either be to sail a very large yacht, or to be rich enough to own an English bookstore in a foreign country that lost money and had no customers. That would be fun.
Car: A Toyota Prius
Economy, business or first class: Business
Most extravagant purchase: My most extravagant purchase was a 60ft cruising sailboat, which I have since sold.
Most-played song on your iPod: "Upside Down" by Paloma Faith. It’s also my ringtone, which was slightly embarrassing when it went off in a web conference recently.
Best business book: The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Worst business moment: The day that someone had told me that I had lost all of my money because of a hostile takeover of my company Micrografx. Its share price had dropped by 99 per cent.
Proudest business moment: Probably when I was brave enough to take the company back over and make my money back.
Your business mentor: I don't have one.